Brewers' Wright can do no wrong

Starter, Sexson hand Cubs 2nd consecutive loss

Brewers 4, Cubs 0

Cubs manager Don Baylor didn't want to be prophetic Saturday, but he was.

Before the Milwaukee Brewers' Jamey Wright defeated the Cubs 4-0, Baylor was asked what he expected to see from the right-hander he had managed with the Colorado Rockies.

"On some days his sinker is as good as anybody's," Baylor said. "He gets a lot of putouts at first base. We have to try not to hit so many ground balls."

Then Wright went to the Wrigley Field mound and did exactly what his former manager feared he would.

He limited the Cubs to five hits and threw 118 pitches, needing just 10 pitches in four of the innings.

Wright (7-4) lasted until he walked Ricky Gutierrez to open the ninth, his second pass of the game in front of 40,460, the season's second-biggest crowd at Wrigley.

At that point, 15 of the 24 putouts had been made on infield grounders, three of them comebackers to Wright.

"I never had real good command of my curve," said Wright, "but my sinker was really good today. Luckily they hit the ball right to people."

With Friday's loss to the Brewers, the Cubs have just 10 hits--nine of them singles off Wright and Jimmy Haynes--in the two games.

On Sunday the Cubs oppose 22-year-old rookie Ben Sheets, the Brewers' biggest winner with an 8-4 record and a hero of the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team.

"Good pitching will beat good hitting and that's what Milwaukee got the last two days, good pitching," Sammy Sosa said.

Saturday's contest was decided in the first inning when Kevin Tapani (8-4) threw "a breaking ball that got a little too much of the plate" to Richie Sexson. Sexson hit the pitch with a little too much of his bat for a three-run home run. Wright singled home the other run in the fourth.

"Little mistakes here and there beat us." Tapani said. "I put us in a hole in the first inning. Wright had a good sinking fastball, and he kept his breaking ball over the plate. He had both today."

"Getting that lead in the first inning was big," Wright said. "Any time we get the lead early, it's my job not to give it up."

Sosa's leadoff double in the seventh was the Cubs' only extra-base hit, but he was out trying to stretch it into a triple.

Matt Stairs and Rondell White followed with singles, but Wright retired the next two batters and preserved the shutout.